ESOF 2020 Special Issue is sponsored by

EuroScience President Michael Matlosz explains the challenges of organising the 9th edition of the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF2020) conference during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The conference will be held in Trieste, 2-6 September 2020 in an innovative hybrid format.

Video Highlights

2:15 ESOF2020 initially planned for 5-9 July 2020, postponed to 2-6 September 2020 due to ongoing sanitary crisis 

2:38 ESOF2020 is a tool for social and societal dialogue between the scientific community and the general public

3:00 Citizens with expectations from science during the current crisis look at ESOF2020 for informed discussion

3:20 Travel restrictions dictated by the health authorities were the main challenge in the organisation of ESOF2020

3:40 The conference went from a purely physical event to a hybrid event allowing physical and remote participation

4:00 President Matlosz will be physically present at the conference, but 80% of the attendees are expected to be remote

4:15 Hybrid solution shows potential for increased participation, might influence organisation of future editions

4:30 Conference program modified to include sessions on responses to the COVID-19 epidemic

4:50 EuroScience will moderate a symposium on doing research in time of global crisis

5:10 Matlosz: “Responding to this challenge, we created an even more attractive event.” 

5:30 Future editions of ESOF will incorporate the lessons learnt from the 2020 challenge

6:00 Registrations open until the day before the event on the ESOF2020 website

More information about the conference here.

Interview and Video by Federica Bressan